Cap remover



L. SHELDON CAP REMOVER Filed Oct. 26, 1936 INVENTOR.

Patented July 25, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for releasing caps or lids for containers such as fruit jars and is adapted for use more particularly in connection with caps which are capable of being re leased by being pried off.

A type of cap which nowadays enjoys considerable popularlity is self-clamped to the neck of containers such as bottles, cans, jars and the like. Such caps usually have gaskets and may be held in place by vacuum in the container. The cap and container provide spaced opposed abutments or surfaces between which part of a tool is adapted to be placed for prying oii the cap. Users have been advised to employ coins, knives, screw drivers and other implements and impart a twist or crowbar action to them to pry off the cap. This has proved highly unsatisfactory in all cases except those wherein the cap is so loosely applied as to provide an undependable seal. As an alternative the use of a tool akin to the old-fashioned can opener has been suggested. By this device, comprising a substantially U- shaped element with a short leg to engage under the ledge of the lid and a long leg to impinge upon the top of the lid, the end of the long leg'is pressed down on the lid while the short leg is pulled upward. This is very inconvenient at best and, after a series of such operations circumferentially of the lid, it may be removed, but at 30 the cost of ones composure and with such distortion of the lid as to render it unfit for subsequent use, which use is often desirable as when only a part of the contents of the container has been removed.

The use of such prior devices, moreover, is attendant with danger of personal injury due to the likelihood of slipping of. such devices, and breakage, scratching or the like of cap, container, and knife or other tool.

Because of the lack of a better cap-prying device, considerable sales resistance to containers equipped with such caps has developed, notwithstanding their desirability from a sealing standpoint.

The objects of my invention are to provide a device free of the foregoing objections.

Bearing in mind the abovementioned and other difficulties encountered with present capprying devices, I have devised a structure of this character which may be produced in quantities at an extremely low manufacturing cost, without relatively moving parts, and by which a capmay be removed substantially by a single short movement without injury to the tool, without distorting the cap and without personal danger.

In accordance with the general features of my invention, there is provided a preferably arcuate elongated part one end of which is adapted to be inserted in the space between the opposed shoulders of the container and cap, and engageable with one of the shoulders while the trailing portion engages the other shoulder. Upon application of. a prying force tending to rotate the arcuate part substantially in its plane, portions of said part successively more distant from said end are engaged with the adjacent shoulder, and the shoulders are thereby separated. Of course the device may be of any desired dimensions so that the maximum distance between the end and the other shoulder engaging portion will be such as to free the cap from the container.

Further objects and advantages or" the invention will appear as the description proceeds. V

The invention will be understood upon reference to the following description and the drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an isometric View of one form of the invention.

Figure 2 is fragmentary rear elevation of the same in position preparatory to clockwise prying action.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the tool of Figure 2, with the cap removed.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional viewtaken substantially as indicated by the line IV--IV in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken as indicated by the line VV in Figure 2.

Figure 6- is a reduced fragmentary sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line VI-VI in Figure 5, the relation of. the parts after the commencement of the prying action being shown in dotted lines.

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 5 but shows the relation of'the parts corresponding to the dotted lines in Figure 6. s

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6 but showing another method of using the tool, and a modified cap construction.

Figure 9 is similar to Figure 7 but shows the parts in the relation indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 8.

Figure 10 is similar to Figure 9 but shows a modified cam point.

Figure 11 is a plan view of another form of the invention.

Figure 12 is a sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line XII-XII in Figure 11.

Figure 13 is a rear elevation taken as'indicated by the line XIIIXIII' in Figure 11.

Figures 14 and 15 are respectively front elevational and plan views of another form of the invention.

Figures 16 and 17 are respectively front elevational and plan views of another form of the invention.

Figures 18 and 19 are plan and rear elevational views of another form of the invention.

Figure 20 shows another cam construction.

Figure 21 shows a modified container shoulder.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, any suitable container is shown at I, having a ledge or shoulder 2 and a neck 3 to which a cap 4 is adapted to be clamped or crimped in sealing or other closing relation thereto. The cap and container may be of any suitable construction, shape and material. The cap may be provided with a skirt 5 in which is disposed a gasket 6 for sealing purposes.

The cap has an inturned rim or margin 1 serving to retain the gasket and providing a ledge or shoulder adapted to face and lie in space relation to the shoulder 2, when the cap is fixedly clamped to the container.

A tool embodying the principles of the invention'is showngenerally at 8, and comprises a sheet metal stamping formed with thumb and finger handle or press portions 9 to adapt the piece to be manually rotated and a prying cam lOformed asby being struck up from a preferably central body portion ll offset from the ends l2. The cam I is preferably generally U-shaped. The sides or arms 13 and M, or either of them, extending from the bight 15, may

- be substantially normal to the body portion H,

and are preferably straight and flat and sufficiently thin to be readily inserted in'the narrow space l6 usuallyfound between the shoulder 2 and rim 1. This space has been found in practice to vary from about a e" to about and accordingly each arm'may be made sufiiciently thin, without undue sacrifice of strength, to lend itself to ready insertion in the minimum space.

The tool may be conveniently manipulated by 'both right-handed and left-handed persons,

and 6, and the tool is turned clockwise, the end, 11 will engage the jar shoulder Z and the bight. l5 of the cam will'slide up and along the cap rim 1, camming the cap upward until the cap is released from the. neck 3. By placing the arm l3 in the space IS with the free end I! at the left and the arm I I at a higher level, as seen in Figures 8 and 9, and turning the tool clock-wise, the free end I! engages the cap rim (a in Figure 8 or 1 in Figure-9, camming the same upward as the bight [5 slides along the jar shoulder 2. The cap rim 1a is'corrugated or otherwise roughened to interlock with the end l6. With the arm l4 in the space 16 and the free end l8 of said arm 14 at the left, and the other arm l3 either below or above, the tool is turned anti-clockwise to effect a camming up of the cap either by the free end l8 or by the bight l5, as will be understood readily from the foregoing explanation.

' The cap may be raised in stages instead of in one operation, by applying the tool at two or more spaced points along the space !6.

In order to guard against accidental slipping of the tool, the thumb or a finger of the hand not applying the tool, i. e., the hand held over the top of the container assembly to steady it, may be placed against the back IQ of the central body portion II and press the same toward the jar neck. The jar shoulder may be raised at its outer periphery as shown at 2B in Figure 21 to provide a guard against accidental escape of the tool, however used. For this purpose also, I may notch the free end of each arm to provide a single edge at the point as at II, 18 or a V-edge as at 2!, and I may flare the bight IE to provide an outer edge 22. example, it will be observed that the blade, from the free end portion 1'! or [8 to the fulcrum I5 (Fig. 1) varies in length so that the free end portion can be positioned between the skirt of the cap and the neck of the container. A similar arrangement is made at 33 in Fig. 18 and at 2! in Fig. 10, and in other modifications as is'appar-' ent from the drawing.

The point, or the edge 22, as the case may be, when applied to the rim 1 or 7a., is worked into Thus, referring to Fig. 5, for

interlocked relation thereto as shown in'Figures '7, 9 and 10, so that the cap rim itself retains the point or edge, as the case may be, from slipping out. In the use of the tool, as will be apparent from the foregoing, either point or the edge 22 is thus interlocked with the cap.

Figures 11, 12 and 13 show a form similar to that described above, differing substantially only in respect to the handle construction. Here the ends are turned back and twisted to provide the thumb and finger press portions 23. The cam is numbered as above.

In accordance with another form of the invention, illustrated in Figures 14 and 15, the stamping may be formed with a handle portion 24 at one end and a cam 25 at the other. The body may be fiat but is preferably offset adjacent the-cam, similarly to the portion I I previously described. The cam is shown with its bight 26 at the end of the tool, although obviously the suitable position. A hole 24a may be provided to hook the tool to a support.

Another form is shown in Figures 16 and 17.

This structure is similar to that in Figure 1, but

spaced cam flanges 2'! are provided, a longitudinal intermediate strip 28 being struck back and bent at right angles to provide a handle.

A tool embodying the principles of the inven tion may be formed of wire,as shown in Figures 7 18 and 19. In one form, showngenerally at 29, the tool terminates in a cam 30 having a fiattened free end portion 3| for fitting in a narrow space 16 and a rounded portion 32 which may be of the normal wire form in cross section and/or may be flared to provide an edge corresponding with the edge 22 of the first described form of the invention. The thumb of the hand not applying the tool may be placed against the rear sideof the cam and press it toward the jar neck to aid in preventing slip-ping of the tool as it is being rotated.

' The free end portion 3| may be formed with a notched point 33, similar to that shown at 2|, to receive the cap rim when the tool is applied in that way, providing an interlock preventing accidental disengagement as the tool is rotated.

Each flattened portion l3, l4, 3| may be of generally knife form, that is, with a relatively sharp outer edge, which may be pushed wedgefashion between very closely spaced cap rim and jar shoulder portionsor abutments to effect sufficam could be reversed so that its convex portion faces the. handle end, or arranged in any other cient entryof 'said flattened: portion to enable the tool to be effectively manipulated.

In case of a' capwith a skirt type of rim such asappears at 64 in Figure 20, the free end. of

' the cammay'bepointed. as at 35-to bite the rim," andflzifi necessary, may be held by the free hand against slipping.

The handle may be in any desired relation to the cam. Preferably, however, the handle is inclined to the flattened portion or portions of the cam so that when such portion is positioned substantialiy horizontally, as will usually be the case because the jar will ordinarily be resting on a horizontal base, the thumb and index finger, applied to spaced parts of the handle, may assume natural positions with the thumb and finger at different elevations.

It will be appreciated that the tool is also useful to pry out flanged stoppers and can tops, where opposed surfaces, one on the container and the other on the stopper or top, furnish abutments adapted tobe pried apart by the tool.

The tool does not appreciably mar the cap, so that the latter, after having been removed by the tool, may be pressed on the jar neck by hand, as is often desirable when only a portion of the contents of the jar has been removed.

With this invention the prying portions of the tool are at all times in such close proximity to each other that a large force multiplication is obtained, requiring little effort to cam the cap free of the container. The tool is equally operable by right and left handed persons.

It will be evident from the foregoing that, whether made of sheet metal. wire or other material, the tool is eifective, durable, requires but a single turning movement involving so little energy that any housewife may operate it, and may be manufactured in large quantities at low cost.

I am aware that many changes may be made and numerous details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and I therefore do not purpose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claim:

1. A prying tool for container closures, said tool. comprising an elongated prying part having a substantially plane end portion insertable between a container and a closure therefor after the closure is sealed on the container, and a portion arched longitudinally of and extending from an end of said plane portion and inclined transversely relative to said plane portion.

2. A prying tool comprising a lever having an end portion insertable between substantially parallelsurfaces of a container and the skirt of a cap therefor after the cap is sealed on the container, said lever having a fulcrum portion slidably engageable with one of the surfaces while said end portion engages the other surface as the tool is turned, each of said portions having an edge engageable behind the skirt, when the other portion is engaged with the container surface.

3. A rotary prying tool comprising a metal body from which a flange extends transversely, an end portion of the flange being insertable between mutually facing surfaces of a container and a skirted cap therefor after the cap is sealed to the container, the transverse extent of the flange being such that when the flange is fully inserted said body adjacent the flange is disposed adjacent one of said surfaces, said flange inwardly of said end portion having a fulcrum portion slidably engageable with one of the surfaces while the end portion engages the. other surface as the tool is turned, said body having thumb and finger handle means disposed at opposite. ends of. the

body and laterally spaced from theflange so that the hand may: press the back of said body to steady the tool while turning it,

4. A rotary prying tool comprising a body having a projecting part, said part comprising angularly related substantially straight arms, each of which is selectively insertable between and along closely spaced mutually facing surfaces of a container and the skirt of a cap therefor after the cap is sealed to the container, said arms being joined by a fulcrum portion slidably engageable with one of the surfaces while the free end of either arm selectively engages the other surface as the tool is turned, said body having a handle spaced from said arms.

5. A prying tool for container closures, said tool comprising an elongated substantially flat prying blade, substantially the full length of said blade being insertable between the mutually facing peripheral surfaces of a container and a skirted closure therefor after the closure is sealed on the container, said blade having a portion engageable and interlockable with the skirt surface while another portion longitudinally spaced from the first portion engages said container surface, the places of engagement being spaced apart peripherally of said surfaces when the tool is in prying position on. the container, and handle means disposed to swing said blade about an axis substantially normal to the axis of the container.

6. A tool of the type described, comprising a handle, a blade extending transversely from said handle, the blade having a flat portion terminating in a free end portion for entering into the space between the shoulder of a container and the rim of the skirt of a cap located on the neck of and closing said container, a portion of the blade remote from said free end portion extending angularly from said flat portion to thereby provide a fulcrum for said end and flat portion of the blade when the blade is moved to pry the cap from the container, said free end portion having a groove adapted to receive the rim of the cap to prevent slipping of the tool from the cap when the tool is in use.

7. A tool of the type described, comprising a handle, a blade extending transversely of the handle, the blade having a flat portion terminating in a free end, portion for entering into the space between the shoulder of a container and the rim of the skirt of a cap located on the neck of and closing said container, a portion of the blade remote from said free end portion extending angularly from said flat portion to thereby provide a fulcrum for said end and flat portions of the blade when the blade is moved to pry the cap from the container, the blade from the free end portion to said fulcrum varying in length so that the free end portion can be positioned between the skirt of the cap and the neck of the container to prevent slipping of the tool from the cap when the tool is in use.

8. A prying tool for closures for cylindrically shaped containers, said tool comprising a prying part insertable between the mutually facing peripheral surfaces of a container and a skirted closure therefor after the closure is sealed on the container, said part having a pointed end engageable and interlockable with said skirt while another portion of said prying part engages said container surface, the places of engagement being spaced apart peripherally of said surfaces when the tool is in prying position, and handle means connected to said prying part and disposed to swing said prying part about an axis substantially normal to the axis of the container, said. handle means being substantially longer than said prying part and extending from said prying part in a direction generally normal to a radius of said container when the tool is in prying position, whereby said handle means may be readily grasped by the operator for manipulation.

LOUIS SHELDON. 

